Will-o-Wisp
by Ginzo
Summary: <html><head></head>Take the mundane and make it interesting. All it takes is a ghost from another world with godlike intelligence and a driven Harry Potter. Post 4th year. Not epilogue compliant and pairings are not yet decided. Rated M to be safe. Will contain Wandless magic and Animagus form too.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Harry blinked at me as I blinked back towards him. His tousled bed head hair combined with the crooked placement of his glasses made a rather funny image. Dare I say, the opposite sex might even consider the look to be somewhat cute. But not me. No siree, from where I came from, saying things like that to a guy sent red flags going up in everyone's mind, and the next thing you know, your sexual orientation has been changed within the next ten minutes.

Not that there is wrong with people liking each other of the same sex, the thought just made me squeamish personally.

"Uh hi," Harry said as he finally fixed his glasses and stared at me.

I waved back in a hesitant manner and said, "Hello, awkward situation we are in right now eh?"

Harry just waved back and dumbly nodded. Still unable to form a statement to save his life.

I looked around awkwardly and clapped my eyes as I looked down. Was I floating in the air?

"Right, so who ware you again?" Harry looked at me as he cleared his throat. In my random roll about it seems that he was now holding his wand.

"Oh me, my name's Ralph." I said as I point to myself and grin comically.

"Right Ralph. Nice to meet you. Mind telling me what you are doing in my room and how you are floating a foot above the floor?" Harry said as he stared at the space between my feet.

I scratched my head and thought about it for a second before shrugging my shoulders. "Honestly your guess is as good as mine. Last I remember, I was going to sleep and next thing I know, I am waking up in your bedroom. As for the legs thing, I honestly feel like I am standing on a wooden platform." I finished my answers in a somewhat lame manner and looked at him.

Harry looked at me and me back at him. He just blinked at me as he tried to make sense of this absolutely weird situation. "Right. Smashingly fascinating stuff mate. Any chance you feel like waking up right now?"

I cracked a slight smile at that. Guy's got to appreciate humour even though his current situation is something completely out of a whacky sci-fi movie. "Honestly mate, been trying but for some reason it just won't work. Are you really Harry Potter though, like with the scar and all?"

I am sorry. I couldn't help myself. It was one thing to read about these characters in Rowling's fantastically simple books. But it was another thing to see them in real life. Words can't express this properly, you have to be in that situation to understand properly. Then again you won't ever be in this situation so just take my word for it. It's unbelievable.

"Uh yeah." Harry lifted his bangs to show his scar to me almost automatically. He was still staring at the space beneath my feet.

I grinned as the famous lightning bolt scar came into view. Without meaning to, the word just slipped out of my mouth. "Wicked!"

Harry snapped his green eyes to me and stared at me with a comical expression on his face. I could sort of understand as I had just imitated his first friend in the magical world down to the T.

"So are you a ghost?" Harry asked as he stared at me. He ran a hand through me and sure enough, it passed right through me. "You don't feel as cold as the other ghosts though." Harry muttered the last part under his breath. Although it was loud enough for me to catch on.

"Eh? I don't think I am a ghost. I don't think I have died just yet, I am too young to do that man. Only turned 24 a few days ago." I said as I rubbed my hand in the space through which he had put his hand through. My chest still felt solid as before, but I could feel him moving his hand through me, almost like a distortion.

Steps sounded from outside the room as Vernon Dursley ripped the door open. "Boy get up and get started on the breakfast!" He hollered as he glared at Harry. Through me.

Harry stared at me and then Vernon in confusion. "Uh yeah Uncle Vernon, I will get on that right away." Harry said as he was staring at me.

As soon as he was gone I turned my attention back to him. "So you aren't a ghost then?"

I nodded my head. "Right, Yeah, I don't think I am a ghost either. This is so surreal honestly."

Harry nodded along. "Tell me about it."

We just waited in our respectable positions before a thought struck me. "Say, does the name Daniel Radcliffe mean anything to you?"

Harry's eyes crinkled in confusion. Then again his eyes were green, something that Radcliffe would never have as apparently he had a problem with wearing contacts or something like that. "No, someone you know?"

I chuckled in amusement. "No the likes of me unfortunately do not have the fortune to know him. Although even if I did meet him, I reckon that I would end up asking him if he can introduce me to Emma Watson."

Harry's confusion increased even more. But he nodded along as if what I said made the most sense in the world. "Right."

I nodded too. Harry got up from his position and gathered his belongings for the washroom before looking uncertainly at me and leaving. I floated around the Dursley house for the next few minutes. The walls were absolutely immaterial for me, so I could phase through without any problems.

I tried to go away from the house and found that I wasn't tethered to it, I was a free spirit, through and through. Although I did feel a slight pull towards the top portion of the house where I believed Harry was currently. So it would seem that I am linked to him somehow.

I floated around Privet Dr. It was much bigger than what was shown in the movies or in the books. Houses went up all the way to number 60 before the street ended and melded into another after a slight curve. It was quite a respectable area though. All the houses looked like they belonged to managers or higher position in several companies.

I noticed a woman making rounds of the street. Although when I followed her, I saw her changing her facial features after waving a wand about in the area around her. At first I thought that it was a witch that was using glamour charms that I read about in the books, but soon a very familiar face phased into view.

I concentrated on her and to my surprise I could feel her magic coursing through her. It was certainly unique in the manner that unlike what I felt from Harry, it was always roiling about. Harry's magic was very stationary, if not a little wild since it was acting as if it was looking for a way out. I memorized the feel of her magic, something that I wasn't sure how I managed to do or sense seeing as I shouldn't have any magic in me.

Or do I?

I lifted my hand and pointed it at a stray piece of paper on the street. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

And lo and behold, the paper sat still on the ground without even twitching. I frowned at that. And tried again, and again and again. It was a futile endeavour though. I couldn't influence the paper in any way whatsoever. I frowned and moved down to pick up the paper in annoyance, but as usual it just phased through.

In my anger I flung my hand upward in frustration, and felt an impact.

"Who's there?" A furious whisper brought my attention to the witch who was clutching her left buttock while casting her eyes about in a suspicious manner. I looked at my hand in a wondering manner. Wonder and amazement etched on my face.

I concentrated for a moment and lightly dragged my finger across Tonks's forehead and down her face, slowly. She clearly felt the caress but couldn't do more than widen her eyes as she couldn't see anything in place. I grinned in excitement and pinched her cheek just to watch her yelp and move around in a confused manner.

My mind was running at full capacity now. Running plans and ideas through them about my current situation and Harry Potter's situation. If my guess was right, the time in which I had ended up in was right after the end of fourth year. The year in which Harry went through so many hardships.

He grinned in a feral manner as he stared at number 4 Privet drive, Harry Potter was going to have the best summer of his life. He was going to make sure of it. The date on the calendar had showed that it was June 8. The school had ended early after the third task. I frowned at that, from my understanding, the third task was supposed to happen on June 24th. So why did it happen on May 24th instead? (It was marked on Harry's calendar in his room.)

I waited patiently as Harry came back up the stairs. He came in the room and stopped and stared at me again. "You thought I would be gone by the time you came back?" Harry just stared at him in the same dead stare. "Right let's get something cleared. I am not a part of your imagination or a figment of some repressed emotion rearing its head as a hallucination. Nor am I a ghost as you seem to have determined for yourself."

Harry nodded at that as he stared in a focused manner towards me. A fearsome bird like quality was attached to his eyes in that instant. "So what are you then?"

I frowned in thought as I tilted my head at that. "I am, an anomaly." I said as I tried to explain things the best I could. "I am someone that shouldn't exist in this world, but more so than anything else, I am someone that knows your past as well as your future to a certain extent. Although things are already different from how I assumed they would be seeing as you are there at the Dursley household, almost a month early."

Harry stiffened at that as he glared at me and pointed his wand at me. "We both know you can't use magic outside school Harry so put the wand down before something happens that we both don't want to. Plus I am not the enemy here, if you let me help you, I will see to it that you get the proper things you deserve."

Harry still had his wand pointed at me. "Kind of hard to believe that of a stranger you know," Harry said. "I don't trust you, but I will give you a finger of trust, but be careful because that amount of trust is all that is keeping me from blasting you into oblivion."

I smiled thinly at that. This kid really was a Gryffindor through and through, a reckless idiot without any brains between those two eyes. "Right. So let's get this show on the road shall we. I will have you free from these useless chores before you could say quidditch."

Harry nodded in a confused manner before pocketing his wand. I stood there with arms crossed and my finger tapping my left arm. I nodded as my previous ideas were strung together into a somewhat decent plan. "Right, get dressed Harry, we are going on a trip to Diagon Alley."

Harry frowned at him. "And how are we going to do that. We don't have anyone with us that could take us there."

I frowned back at the boy, or man since he was almost fifteen now. The age of 18 for being considered as majority was overrated. "The knight bus Harry."

Harry's eyes widened in realization. "Right. Uh Ralph, you mind leaving a bit I am about to change now."

I just shrugged and floated out of the room. Noises of eating were heard from downstairs as the Dursleys' devoured the breakfast cooked by Harry. I frowned at those pigs, they would soon get their reckoning if things went properly. Steps of someone coming down entered my hearing range as Harry Potter came down. I nodded at the door and he nodded at me before opening it and stepping outside.

I instantly saw the woman that looked like she was forty, look up at Harry as he exited the house. Harry walked to the street and put his wand up in the air. It was a universal call for the Knight bus. A minute later the crazy bus had pulled up in front of him. Ralph looked at in open curiosity as Harry boarded it and greeted the conductor, Stand Shunpike.

"To Diagon Alley please." Harry said as he paid the fare without the toothbrush or the chocolate involved in the package.

Soon the duo were caught in a whirlwind of turns and sudden jerks as the bus zapped its way along the busy streets of London. It wasn't long before they had finally pulled up in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry tumbled off of the bus and walked into the pub that was barely filled in the morning. There were perhaps a few patrons around in the corner of the room. But he ignored them and walked straight to the back.

The patrons in turn ignored Harry too as he went to the back. A few quick taps had the alley opening up in the same way that he remembered from the first movie. The amazement must be visible on my face as I turned around to face Harry who had a slight knowing grin on his face. I rolled my eyes and gestured for him to get moving behind me.

Harry followed me, but he didn't ask where I was leading him. He was still curious about it, only for his eyes to brighten in realization as they came across Gringotts. We walked inwards as I drank in the sights of all the goblins around me. They really were detestable creatures. I don't think I would ever like a goblin or orc in my life, Tolkien had brainwashed me too much for that.

Harry walked up to a teller and pulled out his key. "I would like to withdraw some galleons please."

The Goblin looked at him and grunted in a disgusted manner as he took in his clothes. I too was somewhat appalled at Harry's wardrobe, but it wasn't like the kid had much of a choice with the Dursleys' as relatives. The goblin took the key and ringed down another goblin so that he could take them down to Harry's vault. "This is Griphook and he will take you down to your vault Mr. Potter."

Now this could be an odd little coincidence that the same Goblin who took Harry down for his first visit was present here again when he wanted to go down again. Did I tell you that I don't like coincidences, no siree, I don't like them at all.

I looked at Harry who was frowning at the Goblin making his way towards us. I zoomed in front of him and said, "Ask the current teller for everything that you currently own and a list of things you will own upon your majority as well."

Harry frowned at that. He was about to say something back at him before he stopped and looked around. No one had seen me and he had just realized that. He looked at me in the same cautious manner before repeating his request to the Goblin. The Goblin teller grunted again in a rude manner. He pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and pressed on the inscribed runes on his desk before placing the key that Harry gave him again, against it.

Words appeared on the sheet as he handed the sheet and the key back to Harry. Harry folded the paper and placed it in his pocket as Griphook was upon them. He still hated the bastard for what he pulled in the seventh book, but if he had anything to say about the matter, the seventh book would probably not happen anymore.

The duo walked towards the roller coaster that would take them down to Harry's vault. I floated behind them at the same pace as them as I was tethered to Harry, so where he went, I went. I wondered if the same thing applied to apparition or portkeys.

We were soon inside the vault as Harry collected as many galleons as he could in his pouch. I frowned at the meager amount he as taking. The vault was full with possibly tens of thousands of galleons. I looked Harry square in the eye and told him, "Ask the goblin if there is a limit to what you can withdraw and if he has a bag with an expansion charm on it."

Harry stared at me for a moment before asking the question. He was only kicking himself for not asking it before. Turns out that there was no limit on this vault as it was programmed to be filled up to its brim every time on his birthday. Harry frowned at that piece of information before he asked for the Gringotts' bag.

At my advice, Harry filled the bag up with about three thousand galleons. There was a lot of shopping to do and I for one was extremely curious about what exactly the magical world had to offer. Harry and I went back to the upper levels of Gringotts as Griphook left us. Harry was about to walk out before I swooped in front of him again.

"Take a look at that parchment that the teller gave you Harry. Let's see what it had in it." Harry nodded as he opened the parchment. It listed a bunch of things as to how much money Harry would earn should he come into his majority, to the properties that he owned. One thing that he saw that really made him smile was one of the properties. The Dursley Household.

"How?" Harry asked in a shocked voice. He was literally quaking in his shoes as he looked at the amount of gold the Potters' had. It was certainly one of the richest bank accounts in the world at the moment and Harry had no idea that he owned all of that.

"Does the parchment say who the manager of your account is?" I asked as I looked at Harry.

Harry nodded as he was still shocked. "It says there that the manager is someone named Bartok."

I nodded at that. "Go to that same teller and ask him to meet the manager immediately." Harry folded the paper and placed it in his pocket again.

He walked to the teller again and stood in front of him. Since it was early in the morning, not many people were lingering about so Harry didn't have to wait in a line again. "What do you want now Mr. Potter?"

The goblin seemed to be at the edge of his patience today. Harry frowned at this as he said in a clear but crisp voice, "I would like to meet my manager Bartok immediately."

The goblin sneered at him. "You have to book an appointment a week in advance to meet your managers Mr. Potter. Now then if you are done with this nonsense, I would like to return to my business."

Now Harry was full on glaring at the Goblin in front of him. The gears were clicking away in my head as I tried to use the first thing that came in my head. Plain old bullying. "Harry, tell him that you have one last order of business."

Harry didn't even look at me as he repeated my words to the Goblin. "I have one more thing that I need from you." Here he paused as he listened to my whispered words. A slight smile came on his face as he heard my words. "I would like to close my account at Gringotts and withdraw everything from the Potter vaults."

Silence. Absolute silence. All the Goblins around us were looking at us with something akin to shock and slight anger. I knew the situation was dangerous, but there was nothing else to it but this. The Goblin in front of us didn't exactly go through different colours like a human, but his expressions did contort in different forms in comical manner.

In the end, what followed was classic good old school yard bullying with Harry twisting the Goblins' arms at my behest. It was two hours later that we finally got out of the bank, with a lot of things ending in our favour. The largest one being the ring that now sat on Harry's right hand. The ring that consisted of the Potter arms and crest.

It was invisible to the general public, only those who were told about it could see it, and me being a ghostly shadow attached to Harry Potter, I could see it. We had gone down to the Potter main vault and were shocked to find that the amount of gold there. Harry was completely stunned at the gold present there, it was understandable as the only place I could remember seeing as much gold was in a movie where it was created through some amazing CG effects.

We made our way towards Madam Malkin's robes. Over there I had Harry place an order for at least three to four different coloured robes made out of the best quality that you could find. They even bought Harry's new Hogwarts uniform. Harry wore his new robe, which was styled to be midnight black in colour, as he walked towards the bookstore.

Between the two of us we bought any and all the good defence books we could find. On my very annoying pokes, he even bought the entire set of arithmacy and ancient runes textbooks. With the way that I go through books, it shouldn't take me a long time to go through them. After all, how hard could magical mathematics be?

They were finished their shopping of books and were about to leave when I stopped Harry. "Harry you do realize that there are forms of magic in this world that are very invasive and are capable of breaking your privacy without even you being able to realize it right?"

Harry looked at me through confused eyes. "What are you talking about Ralph?"

"Well there is a practice of magic called Occlumency and Legilimency. Occlumency helps you protect your mind against invasion of others and Legilimency allows you to take a peek into other's minds." I said as Harry's face grew more and more disgruntled.

"You mean to tell me that people in the magical world can read what's going through my mind?" Harry asked in a disturbed tone of voice.

"No, not your average wizard. It is a very difficult set of skills and there are few known people that are capable of using it to its fullest. The obvious ones are Voldemort, and Dumbledore. But the one that might shock you and concern you Harry is your Potions Professor. Severus Snape can use Legilimency." I finished as Harry's face took on a slightly green colour.

His eyes flickered to my face in concentration before he looked as if he had made up his mind. "Where can I learn Occlumency Ralph?" I nearly grinned to myself. Hook, line and sinker. Harry really was pretty easy to manipulate.

"Well how about you put up your hood and we take a trip down Knockturn alley. With you getting emancipated from the Goblins, you can use your magic in any manner that you want and the ministry can't do anything to you."

The two of them had bought the required books for a very difficult price before they had left the store and went into muggle London. Ralph forced Harry to buy some normal clothes and a couple of muggle suits as well. After all, it wouldn't do to walk around without a proper suit, and they quite suited Harry if he was honest about it.

They ended their little trip by getting some pizza and some soft drinks. All in all it was a productive day, a very much so. When we returned to the house, I was surprised that there was barely any sunlight left. Harry left for his bedroom and passed out in a happy stupor.

The next two days had been spent going over the books that we had bought. Harry went over the various defense against the dark arts books he had acquired in the Knockturn alley. Surprisingly, the material wasn't composed fully of Dark Magic, but rather it was composed of magic that was frowned upon by the ministry so it was removed and placed in the shady areas of the magical street.

While Harry went through the books on duelling and advanced shields to use, I went through the books on Occlumency. I was particularly interested in learning if Snape was actually trying to teach Harry in his fifth year or was he actively trying to break his natural shields or teach him how to form them to be even stronger.

Surprisingly he found no concrete answer. While it was true that attacking an untrained mind continuously in a brutal manner, the natural shields would erode away, it was also true that if someone wished to learn the art quickly, they would have to have someone attack them on a frequent basis so that the shields could be broken and mended to be even stronger each time.

I sighed at this, the universal answer to whether or not Snape was a bad guy or not was still missing apparently. I didn't believe for a second that he would do all this on the whim of love for a woman that is dead for over 18 years. No, he was a true Slytherin to the core, survival instincts that would make some of the finer animals lower their heads in shame. That was who Snape was, a survivor through and through.

I put the thought aside as I started to read through the pages, I would occasionally ask for Harry to turn the page for me, Moody was guarding the house today and the bastard had his eye glued to the house like a hawk. Although he would have no chance of finding out the title of the books as the first thing Ralph had Harry do was rip off the front and back covers of the books and place them in the attic. A simple binding charm held the books in place now.

Their schedule was pretty much set the way it was. On the days that Moody was guarding the house, Harry would sit down and read through all the theory on the spells he would want to try, and the days that Moody wasn't around, he would practice them till he dropped from exhaustion.

"Hey Ralph, check this out. It says in this book that you cannot master a spell by casting it a few times only. If you truly want to master it, you have to use the spell at least a thousand times." Harry said as he read out from the book.

Ralph zoomed from where he was finishing up the book on Occlumency (it was a short book and he was a fast read) and peered into Harry's book.

"Fascinating. I always wondered why it is that Wizards never bothered to go out of their way to try and do the spells multiple times. After all, if your basics are perfect, then you would be only that much of a better fighter. Let's get you started on this Harry."

Harry nodded as he stood up and cast a spell at the wall with a happy grin on his face. He still couldn't believe that he could use magic outside school. "Any idea on what spell I should start on?" Harry asked.

Ralph frowned as he rubbed his hand on his chin.

"Let's start off easy. Let's get the disarming charm down perfectly. According to this book, the first two hundred or so reps should focus on getting the spell down properly, something which I think you have covered. The next two hundred should be on increasing the power in each spell. The next two hundred on doing the spell silently. The next set of two hundred is doing it all silently and the last two hundred is trying to do it wandlessly." Ralph chose not to mention the fact that he had changed the rules. The last two hundred were actually based on the fact that caster had to reduce the wand movements until it was fluid.

Ralph wanted to see if Harry Potter was capable of learning wandless magic or not.

So the rigorous practice started a day after they were back from the alley. Harry was busy working on the wall as he shouted the spell over and over again. The time whiled away as Harry performed spell after spell at the wall, fortunately there was already an absorbing ward on the wall. Something Harry had made by copying the runes from the book into the wall and then powering it.

The strain on Harry's face was visible as he had long since taken off his t-shirt and sweat rolled down in rivulets. Ralph frowned at his body, it was much too skinny and bony, no kid deserved to look like he had been starved that much. But now since Harry could use magic, he planned on making sure that he followed a very healthy diet from now on. He might not be a nutritionist, but he did know what good eating habits were from his mother.

It was in this manner that Harry completed the required six hundred reps by the time evening had come by. He was tired, physically, magically and mentally. But Ralph gave him no quarter. "Come on Harry, only the last two hundred reps left of the wandless piece. It will be hard and it will be difficult but simply focus on the magic you felt coming out of you and through your arm. Pull on that feeling until the magic comes forth and throw the charm at that wall. Come on Harry!"

Harry stood up and grit his teeth as Ralph watched in fascination. Harry closed his eyes as he steadied his hand before snapping his eyes open and silently waving it in front of him. He mentally roared the name of the charm and flung his hand at the wall as a bright light flashed out of his arm and hit the wall.

I watched this with wide eyes. The bastard had done it. Harry Potter had done the impossible and cast a flipping wandless charm at the wall. The implications of this hit him like a hammer. Magic truly was a wonderful thing, it had no form or shape, and it required a person's will to acquire a shape. And the will determined what was possible and what wasn't.

Form the stubborn willpower that Harry Potter had with his penchant for doing the impossible, well I was grinning with the sheer diabolical plans that were popping up in my head as to what I could possibly teach Harry Potter. That got me thinking, what if Harry was able to turn into a magical animagus. It was considered to be impossible, but then again that particular branch of magic had never had a chance to go up against Harry Potter.

I grinned as Harry gained control of his magic more and more as he did the spell repeatedly. Towards the end of his set he was unleashing the disarming charm without even twitching his finger, such was his control on his magic. I grinned at Harry as he completed his last rep and collapsed onto the bed. He stared at me and matched my grin.

"Disarming charm mastered." Harry grinned in a loopy manner before falling on the bed and passing out.

And right on time too as apparently there was a soft but audible pop sound from outside. I peeked out and saw just as Mad eye Moody covered himself with an invisibility cloak. Good thing the bastard was taking night duty and not mornings so soon. After all, if Harry was this good with his spell casting, he had to wonder what the point was to go through so much theory other than learning it initially.

As the days went by, Harry mastered one spell after the other in the duelling book of spells that he had bought in Knockturn alley. His arsenal for powerful spells was increasing rapidly, and not only was he learning them, he was mastering them. The little fool had no idea that he was learning wandless magic, something that even wizards like Dumbledore can only do parlour tricks of.

Harry was so busy in his studies with Ralph that he didn't even notice as the time passed them by. Due to the sheer amount of magic that he was using, his magical core was forced to expand with the demand. Something that allowed him to master his spells much more quickly, but instead of taking the rest of the day off, Harry was soon pushing himself to master two spells in a day. The kid was an absolute monster!

It didn't take long for Harry to hit to two spells completed within a day. He was doing two thousand spells in a day, four hundred of which were entirely wandless. Ralph was amazingly impressed at this kid's sheer stubbornness and willpower.

"Slow down will you kid, you will end up burning yourself out at this rate." I said as I looked up from the book on standard runes level 7. I was a very fast read and I had gone over quite a few of them and understood quite a bit of what was there understand about the subject. Arithmacy had only required him a couple of weeks to go through, it was complicated, but it held nothing to the calculus and vectors subjects offered in his university.

Harry breathed in deeply as he stopped for the day. It was shield spell that he was learning. Deflecto, it allowed the user to deflect an incoming spell with using less energy and pinpoint accuracy. Something that was extremely useful, and it was practically the bread and butter for all the better duelists out there.

"Can't Ralph. I haven't had this much fun in a summer in forever. While it is fun to go the Weasleys' and have fun with them, this is the first time that summer has been good for me overall." And it was a good summer indeed. One spell was all that was required to get the Dursleys' off of his back.

"I know Harry, but still, go out and get some good sun in, you look like an albino vampire with all the time you spend cooped up in here polishing your wand repeatedly." I said as I suppressed a snicker.

Harry gave me a flat look at that. He had soon gotten acquainted with my rather sarcastic and sexist humour. Can't hold a bloke responsible for pointing out that a bird had fine legs on her if she did.

Ralph had also taken it as a personal mission to annoy the heck out of Nymphadora Tonks. Of course, it was done in a sexual manner. He would touch her butt, pinch it, slap it, and various other things that had the auror fuming with rage at not being able to find the perpetrator. It was all good fun for me, after all, as a ghost that was invisible to others except Harry, I had to get my fun from somewhere. Annoying the hot metamorph was just a good pass time.

At first Tonks would stare at Harry's window in an accusing manner. It nearly had ne rolling on the floor from the thought that Tonks believed Harry was responsible for all this, he did have an invisibility cloak after all. To make sure that Harry didn't receive any flak, I had Harry stand by the window, in clear sight without wand, as I went behind Tonks and squeezed them honey buns tightly.

She had squawked indignantly and tried to swipe something behind her, all of which Harry had seen with a slight smile on his face. He really was coming out of his shell lately, instead of being all downtrodden and sad. Sure the death of his colleague had hit him bad, but Ralph had been able to get him out of the funk immediately.

Ralph flew away from her and back towards Harry as he laughed uncontrollably. It was rather fun to harass the young auror. He was sure that she didn't mention these moments to anyone at the Order Headquarters either, after all how does one go about saying that they were groped by something invisible and intangible. People would think that you were barking mad and soon jokes would be made about you wanting 'it' too much that you are fantasizing about it. Nope she was stuck in this for better or worse.

Harry shook his head at his friends' antics. It was ridiculous how childlike and gleeful Ralph could be at times. Perhaps Harry should take him up on his offer and go out as he said. After all that girl at the diner close by, Delia, had been eyeing him a lot this summer.

Whatever it was, this was the best summer he had had in a long time. If only he knew how wrong it was going to go in a few days, and he would soon realize the true nature of his friend, a ruthless tactician to his very core.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry sighed as he looked around his surroundings. It truly was a very beautiful place in which they were at the moment. Ralph was floating about happily as he looked at the scenery below. Harry was slapping himself for forgetting his Firebolt at number 4. He could never quite get himself to call that place home, not with all the memories of all the abuse he had felt at their hands.

As a means to break themselves out of the pattern, I had decided to bring Harry to the country of beautiful scenery. New Zealand. It was quite the difficult attempt, but ultimately they had both managed to figure out exactly how the intricacies of portkeys worked. Knockturn Alley sure had a slew of books that were ripe for picking.

I came down from my little joyride and stared at Harry. "You ready for this Harry?"

Harry just gave me a dry look. "I was ready ten minutes ago while you were busy sightseeing Ralph."

I just chuckled as I brushed my hand across my hair. Only for it to pass through, I hadn't made it corporeal before doing it, sometimes it was a bitch to remember to do that. "Uh huh, sure Harry. Let's start casting the ward about."

Harry nodded as he pasted the apparition ward all around them. It wasn't a difficult ward once you got the hang of it. They had been practicing placing it in his room for a very long time now, only they had to be careful that they didn't mess with the already existing wards. Harry was getting quite good at putting up the wards that Ralph taught him. Of course he only knew bits and pieces of the theory though since he wasn't the one that bothered studying the theory, Ralph did all that.

"Alright Harry, this is the big test. You have already learned your apparition, although you don't have your license, I can say that you are fairly good at it by now." I said as Harry grumbled back at me.

"Of course I am, instead of the regular one thousand reps, I had to do almost three thousand of them just to be able to get it done silently, don't even get me started on doing the other two thousand for wandless apparition too. Bloody nightmare that was."

I chuckled at Harry's disgruntled expression. If only he knew that what he had just done was absolutely amazing, he wouldn't be complaining as much. But as of yet, I had no plans on telling him everything about his accomplishments just yet. I will probably have to convince him to not discuss things with others too, or else they would point out that such things were impossible and whatever momentum he had been using to learn these things wandlessly, would be lost.

I had noticed the steady increase in Harry's confidence in his body mannerisms. It wasn't outright obvious, but to an observant person, it was rather obvious. The subtle shift in his frame as his head stood two hair lengths straighter, his eyes stared you directly in the eye without any hesitation and the confidence that he radiated in his strides. Yes, Harry Potter had finally gotten the much needed reprieve from the Dursley household and he had grown into a confident man.

Although my psychological education, brief as it was, told me that faced with an embarrassing situation, he might very well revert back to his original state. I had to somehow cement this confidence in him. But the question was how.

I scratched my chin as Harry kept on spinning around on the ground with a tense frown on his face. He was trying to learn apparition within wards that prevented such things. It was a ridiculous concept, as ridiculous as the things they had been doing, but I had full faith in the fact that Harry Potter would be able to do it. After all, he was Harry Potter, wasn't he?

When you see the guy driven like this, it is easier to imagine him as the bane of the Darkest Lord to exist in history. But if you look at the characters in the books, I can never quite see why it is that he won that battle at the end of the seventh year. Nothing other than a stroke of luck it seems to me.

The sun was slowly crawling over the horizon as Harry kept on trying to apparate within anti-apparition ward. It wasn't till late evening, almost nine hours since they had reached there that Harry finally managed it.

CRACK!

I looked up from my books on the side and smiled as Harry stood almost ten feet away from where he was practicing. I flew over to him excited as I looked over his panting form to see if he was alright. "Harry! That was bloody fantastic, you did it!"

Harry huffed as he tried to gulp in air before reaching at his waist and pulling out a bottle of water from a bottomless pouch in his pocket. He drank liberally from it, sloshing some across his mouth and on his chest before closing the cap and sitting down. "Yeah I finally did it, but it was bloody hard!"

I nodded in understanding as I looked at him. "How did you manage it?"

Harry took a couple of seconds to breathe yet again. "Well remember how you said that the wards are not constant, but rather they are composed of oscillating energy between focal points that you set up?" I nodded at that as that is what I had managed to learn. The sheer amount of power required to keep a ward up at all times was absolutely ridiculous. No, the better and tougher wards meant that the waves of energy fluctuating from focal point to focal point were higher in frequency. The more magical power was placed in them, the higher the frequency.

"Well I tried to look for a gap in the energy fluctuating between the three points, but that proved to be useless though since there was no way I could find a gap with the magic going back and forth at such speeds. So instead of trying to look for a gap, I tried to create one. Apparition magic consists of using the magic to punch a hole through space and warping it around you to be shuttled to the other side of the hole. But in this case, the magic of the ward was so dense that it wouldn't allow me to punch a hole through, so instead of using my hand to punch, I tried to use a needle to poke through the ward and then use the apparition through that. Essentially, I created a hole in the ward by putting all my pressure at one point instead of a blunt punch through." Harry said as he explained his reasoning.

I stood there in amazement as it made perfect sense. Harry had taken the theory and twisted it and convoluted it to see if it would work, and work it did. "Splendid Harry! Let's have a go at it again then eh, we won't be able to do this for a long time as we have to be getting back soon."

Harry nodded as he stood up. "Sure Ralph, it's not like I will be able to do this for a long time anyways. Controlling the magic to such an extent is a very tiring affair."

I nodded as Harry got to work at punching through the ward continuously. At first it was slow going as it took him almost a minute before he apparated with a loud noise. But as he repeated the motions over and over again, he was soon back to a barely audible pop. He repeated the motions for almost a hundred times before collapsing on the ground covered in sweat.

"Well it seems that it is time for us to head back now Harry." I said as Harry tiredly nodded his head. Poor guy was so drained out right now that he probably couldn't even tell yes apart from no. I frowned for a second before making my hand corporal and pulling a vial out of the bag on the ground. I un-stoppered it and placed it at his lips. "Drink up Harry."

The pepper-up potion had an immediate effect and soon Harry was back to a functional level. "Oh that felt nice, thanks Ralph!" Harry said in a slightly more alive voice as he stood back up and stretched his arms.

The two of them made the return trip without any problems. It was fascinating to me as to how if Harry went too far away from me, I would simply disappear and appear back next to him with a single thought. I had my own in built transportation device apparently.

The next week passed much in the same manner until Harry was as efficient apparating under a ward as he was without it. Although it was very magically draining, but something that worked in their favour as Harry was growing stronger magically, much stronger. It was something that I had discovered on an accident.

As usual I was on one of my hunts to haunt our favourite hot auror. Problem was that I couldn't find her anywhere, until I saw a small girl walking by. As she passed me by, I sensed something from her. Confused by this, I followed her, memorizing that feeling that I had felt. It was something that I had felt from Harry too.

Fifty minutes of following had allowed me to follow her into the women's restroom. My morals were at a down low at that point, I didn't even know what it was that I was doing wrong, the only thing that mattered to me was the fact that I had to find out exactly what this feeling was. The little girl checked around and saw that no one was in the restroom. She checked a second time before closing her eyes and changing her form back into the auror that he was acquainted with.

I remember floating out of the wall and roaming around the town in shock at figuring out the fact that I could sense magical energy. Something that should be impossible as I was as muggle as you could get prior to coming here in a ghost form. So how was I able to feel magical energy around me?

Questions were piling up, and yet no answers were in sight. I ignored the thoughts until something came up that would shed light on the situation. The week continued in that vein, and before I knew it, Harry was fifteen years old. July 31st was here, two days before the Dementor attack on Harry.

I had thought long and hard on what it is that I am supposed to do on that day. It could easily be avoided, Harry trusted him and he could easily convince him to just keep practicing in his room. The Dementors won't be able to bother him here behind the wards. But in doing so, there was a good chance that Dudley might get his soul sucked out. He wasn't optimistic enough to believe that should Harry stay in his house the Dementors wouldn't just circle around the house singing ring-a-roses. No siree, optimism was for stupid generals, pessimism for the brilliant ones.

Paranoia and pessimism were excellent tools that a person could use to plan out a course of action when in battle. To expect when things could go wrong and then create plans for them going wrong is what makes a good tactician. And here I was, applying my tactical abilities to their maximum form. Thank you Age of Empires.

It took me nearly three days before prior to Harry's birthday to decide that I would not be interfering with things at all. The only thing I would be doing is convincing Harry to hire a Solicitor. From the shops we had seen in the Diagon Alley, the Tonks and Mattheson Firm would serve us very well indeed. It would not be smart to play this defensively. The best defence is offence. Throw so many things at Fudge that he would have trouble standing upright.

The glaring problem though was sitting right in front of him. The Daily Prophet had been slandering Harry and Dumbledore harshly. It was ridiculous as to what they were printing. It left a rather bad taste in the mouth that the press was allowed to get away with so many things was ridiculous. Plus the corrupt government which was currently in the pockets of Death Eaters. It was ridiculous.

But fighting a political battle at this stage would be absolute suicide for Harry. I shook my head again, no I can't do anything at this stage. Me changing things would make things worse without me even realizing it. Sure Harry would have a bad year this year with all the finger pointing and stuff, but it would help him with his occlumency even more. He had been making advancements in it as he was able to clear his mind for all of two minutes now before losing his concentration. But the fact of the matter was that he was progressing.

Unlike what is usually perceived, occlumency is just like a person's magic. The more they practice it, the more magic flows into their mind and the more secure it becomes. Harry had started off with being able to last barely two seconds. But soon the effect increased from there till he could now last till two minutes. Plus from the manner of increase in time that I plotted against the days it took, the graph looked like it was more exponential than linear. Meaning, the longer Harry started to last while holding his center, the longer his magic would flow into his mind allowing for his natural barriers to be just as stronger the next time around.

But even the two minutes were not an easy feat. They were achieved by countless hours of meditation. Something that still irked Harry, but soon he was able to find his center.

I was sure that by the next month, Harry would be able to hold his center for more than half an hour, allowing for more magic to flow through and make the barriers even stronger. This is partially what Snape was trying to do. If he damaged Harry's defences and then had him meditate regularly, the defences would be built up even quicker, but Harry didn't meditate, hence his natural barriers were eroded away time after time.

I shook my head as I heard noise come down from below. I zoomed out of Harry's room and stared downstairs. Harry was just coming home and it was little later than seven in the morning. His hair was completely messed and as were his clothes. But the most prominent thing on him wasn't that, it was his grin and slightly glazed look.

I grinned as I looked at him. "So had a good time last night Harry?"

Harry just gave a small hum of acknowledgement as he went up to his room and fell down on his bed, the shit eating grin still running strong on his face.

"You bet Ralphie!" Harry said as his grin widened even more.

"Ralphie huh? Meet a nice bird last night Harry?" Of course I knew the answer to that already as I had been following Harry and was with him while he was at the club. I had only separated after the girl had invited him to come over to her house.

Of course, she wouldn't have done that if Harry had been his nervous self at all times. While they were dancing I had to make some bold moves and make my hands corporal and squeeze a few places here and there to give the girl the idea that Harry was interested. Of course Harry was absolutely oblivious to his whole thing. Well since I wanted to cement his confidence, standing on his proverbial third leg like a man would certainly do it.

"Ralph, thank you so much for talking me into that idea. That was the best birthday ever!" Harry passed out on the bed with exhaustion with a happy smile still plastered on his face. I was glad that he had a good time. To think that if he had died in the books, he would have died a virgin. I just felt so bad for the guy that I had to introduce him to the pleasure sooner rather than later. I hold no guilty conscience of getting a fifteen year old guy to sleep with what was probably a twenty year old woman. As a guy, all I would say to Harry would be, "good on you mate. Good on you."

Time passed as Harry slowly came down from his high. I could see that my gamble had been successful indeed. There was no greater confidence boost for a man then making sure that he was amazing at 'it.'

I was found chuckling oddly at random when Harry passed around the house with the dazed smile on his face. The Dursleys' would still look at him oddly but no one commented on anything. Time passed on and soon it was the D-Day. I saw Harry walk out the room as he was finally down from his high and slightly in a funk because his friends hadn't replied to his letters. But it wasn't as intense as it would have been if I wasn't there.

I waited in the living room when the evening came about and soon enough a grey faced Dudley was ushered into the room. Harry stood next to him, looking slightly shaken. The Dementor attack had occurred.

"Dudley! What's wrong with you my popkins?" Petunia rushed forwards and took a hold of Dudley.

I ignored the drama and focused on Harry as an owl flew through the window. Vernon ranted in the background but I ignored him too. I noticed as Harry read the letter and his face went pale. The expulsion letter had arrived. But only a single word popped out of Harry's mouth.

"How?"

I moved to him and made my hand corporal and placed it on his shoulder. The usual letters from Sirius arrived with the warning of staying put. After the fanfare had died down I poked Harry to go upstairs. Harry stumbled into his room and sank down on the bed as the events of the evening came bearing down on him.

"Don't look so down Harry. This was bound to happen at some point in time." I said as I sort of lounged in the air in front of him.

Harry looked at me and scowled. "What do you mean Ralph?"

Ralph waved his hands vaguely in the direction of the prophet. "The ministry has been trying very hard to discredit both you and Dumbledore for the whole of summer. The only way to solidify that image is to make you do something that would make you look like an irresponsible person. Expelling you would certainly do it."

Harry nodded along, still a slight scowl on his face. "How did they know that I did magic though? They shouldn't have known. The trace has been taken off of me since I am emancipated."

I nodded at that. "That you are Harry. But you are also a very high profile case. There is a good chance that they placed various wards around the neighbourhood to monitor any magical activity conducted in it. The chances are that the moment you cast a spell, such a ward was triggered and they assumed that you were the one that had done the magic since you are the only magical in the neighbourhood."

Harry nodded but then stopped abruptly. "But what about all the people that have been keeping an eye on me. Why aren't they tripping up that ward?"

I frowned at that. "Honestly speaking, I don't know. But I can guess that it probably has to do with the fact that the trace works on two parts. One part on your wand and the other in the ministry. But if both parts are removed upon coming the age of 17, then the trace spell won't go off no matter what because there is nothing to signal and nothing to receive. With me so far?"

At Harry's nod I continued. "In your case Harry, you have the trace taken off of your wand, but the trace in the ministry that is probably keyed to you particularly is still active. And that trace is active in this area. Hence when you used magic in an area outside your house, you triggered your trace spell in the ministry. Now I assume this wouldn't normally happen since your wand has nothing on it to transmit that magic was done tonight, but what if something else was used to monitor the area, it would be easy to note exactly what was done on that night then."

Harry nodded as he remained pensive. "I don't exactly get it, but I can sort of understand where you are coming from. But what am I supposed to do now?"

And it was here that I smiled. "Well we are going to do something simple. We are going to troll the ministry."

Over the next hour I explained what it was that we were going to do and soon Harry couldn't do anything other than look at me in wonder and amazement. It wasn't a brilliant idea by any stretch, it was a rather stupid idea. In fact it was so stupid that he doubted anyone would see it coming.

Really relaxed from the problems weighing him down, Harry finally relaxed and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Honestly Ralph, I don't know what I would do without you at times."

I grinned at that. "I know. Don't worry though Harry, as long as I am around, you won't be getting blindsided by things like this. All you need to do is keep practicing and soon you will be at a level where you would easily be able to hold your own against Voldemort. Now how about practicing some cutting curses on your wall so that you can get rid of tonight's stress and pass out in a nice little slumber."

Harry took to the practice with a gusto. The wall was actually showing signs of stress now, even though the magic to absorb the damage done to it was in place currently. Perhaps I would have to have Harry practice that particular piece of magic as he seemed to be getting too strong and proficient in casting destructive pieces of magic like candy.

I actually felt bad for the poor fool that tried to cross this Harry Potter. Although he still had a bit of ways to go to stand on the same platform as Voldemort and Dumbledore, I was sure that Harry could easily stand up against some of Voldemort's inner circle.

Before they knew it, they were crossing over the threshold of Grimauld place. I was glad that the fidelius charm didn't hold me out. Apparently it was incapable of keeping me out, which was a very good thing for both me and Harry. Imagine spending a month while staring out at a door that you couldn't even see in the first place. It would be ridiculous.

But all of that brought me to my current situation. And the manner of trouble my hand had gotten me in. Well technically it wasn't me in trouble, it was Harry. And I don't really know if it is trouble or not, at least I hope not.

Harry had come into the house and met his godfather in a happy manner and some other people as well before he was shuttled upstairs. And he was tossed into a room with Ron and Hermione. Now this is where the situation go awkward. The room was already dark and not much could be seen beyond their faces.

But Harry could see me clearly and from the widening of his eyes he saw my little slip too. The moment Harry barged into the room, he was hugged ferociously by Hermione. Now before Harry could greet them back, he had automatically encircled his hands around her, only thing was, one of my hands had found a way into that hug too. A hand that was very much resting on the posterior of one Hermione Granger. To add to it one of Harry's hands was hanging loosely and not in contact with Hermione, so it would seem as if the one who did this was not me, but Harry.

Harry looked at me, with a stricken look on his face while Hermione went slightly stiff in his arms. And then I did something that changed Harrys' face into something else entirely. And let me tell you it was a very unique look, in the words of my favourite comedian Gabriel Iglesias.

Priceless.

I squeezed her bum, nice and slow, before letting my hand become intangible again.

Time froze, we didn't do anything. I stood there looking at Harry's shocked face and Hermione stood there with an equally shocked face. The two of them just stood there until a cough broke them apart. Hermione flew away from Harry's arms and coughed nervously while light pink dusted across her cheeks.

Harry still had the horrified look on his face, and I just couldn't help it. I lost it, completely and absolutely lost it. Harry just stared on with a bewildered look on his face, it was one of the best looks I have seen on his face ever.

"Good to see you mate!" The troll of the trio introduced himself to Harry. I never really liked the red headed bastard, he was the friend that you always wish to stay away from no matter what. Jealousy was a very ugly trait and I absolutely abhorred it, I cared not for the reasons, only for the fact that I hated it due to its ugly nature. And that equated to me hating Ron Weasley. It was childish, but I could care less, I am still young, so sue me.

Harry came out of his stupor and said something back to him, but for the life of him he wouldn't be able to remember it if asked later. I stared at Hermione Granger and gods was she hot. Even hotter than the one he had seen in the movies, perhaps there was something else at play here, but she was certainly hot. The fact that she was a sixteen year old and by my laws illegal didn't even pass through my head. Wait fifteen since they were about to go through their fifth year. But then again, she did spend a year with the time turner so she is technically sixteen. Gah! I give up, she's sixteen for the sake of my mind. Also that makes her one year closer to the age of maturity.

A creepy smile was on my face as my hands twitched. Almost as if they were looking for a piece of paper and a pen, gathering all the research material on there to write an Icha Icha tactics book. That snapped me out of my mood, just the thought of me acting like that lecher from Naruto had me sobering up quickly.

The twins had arrived while I was off in my own fantasy land and they were busy talking about some things that the order of the phoenix did. Of course, Harry knew all of it since I had kept him updated about what it is that he should expect once they were at the headquarters.

The evening slowly bled away into night and Harry was being given a room to share with Ron. And this is where I interfered. "Harry! Stop, ask Sirius if you could perhaps get your own room here. Something that you can always come back to and decorate as your own from now on."

Harry stopped at that. He immediately walked back into the kitchen and repeated the question to Sirius. The latter was all the more happy to fulfill that wish. Although Mrs. Weasley was not about to let something like this go on. She really was a meddling old lady, honestly.

"Harry dear, that's nonsense. You will be fine with sharing a room with Ron." Mrs. Weasley said as she tried to steer him out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

I saw the uncertainty on Harry's face and shook my head frantically. Harry nodded slightly and smiled at Molly Weasley. "I am sure I would be fine Mrs. Weasley, and I don't have anything against sharing a room with Ron. But I didn't get to see much of my godfather all my life and I am finally being given a chance to do so. I want to be close to him as much as possible."

Sirius grinned as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "That's great squirt, why don't we have you take up the room across from mine on the top floor. Kreacher!" The mouldy looking elf appeared with a nasty scowl on his face. "Prepare the room across from mine for Harry here. And make sure that it is clean, I don't want to find a single shred of dirt in the room."

Kreacher vanished with a sharp pop all the while cursing and muttering expletives under his breath. That really was a foul creature through and through, his name was very apt indeed. Although he was redeemed when the locket was destroyed in the end, so I wasn't sure exactly what it was that I was supposed to make about him.

Harry trudged up the stairs with Sirius following him. Apparently it wouldn't take the elf long to clean the room as he had maintained the condition of the room really well. I looked at the house in distaste, it really was a poor house, horribly so to an extent. It always saddened me to see historical sites such as these degrading simply due to lack of care. Regardless of what sort of history the Black household had, it was still very much an integral part of Wizard's history, and as such it shouldn't be trampled as such.

Soon enough Harry, Sirius and me were standing in the room across from Sirius's. There were only three rooms on this floor, the last one belonging to Buckbeak. Harry and Sirius were making small talk before I asked Harry to do something else. Something that I had been interested in for a while now.

"Hey Sirius I wanted to ask you something." Harry said as he turned to look at his Godfather once the exploration of the room had been completed.

Sirius looked at Harry appraisingly. "Yeah? What's that Harry?"

Harry grinned as he asked, "I wanted to ask you how it is that one can become an animagus."

Sirius stared at Harry for a second before laughing in his barking manner. "Oh this is priceless. So Prongs Jr. finally wants to take up his mantle in the ranks of Marauders eh?"

Harry grinned in excitement. "Yeah. Something like that."

Sirius still had a grin on his face. "Well give me an hour to get all our old notes and books together, It shouldn't take long. But from what I remember the process is composed of three parts. The first part is called the initiating step, or in other words initiating contact with your inner self and identifying what the animal is. The second part is partial transformations, where you focus on one particular portion of the animal's anatomy and try to change it one body part at a time. And the final step is to combine the second step in one go and practicing it long and hard enough so that the transformations are near instantaneous."

I nodded along with that as Sirius rattled all the information out to Harry. Kind of what I had expected honestly. But the initiation step was something that was very hard for many people from the way Sirius made it sound.

"Now if the process were this simple then anyone and everyone in Britain would be an Animagus. But the truth couldn't be far from the mark. The fact of the matter is that there are very few people that succeed in the Initiating step. We were lucky that all three of us succeeded, a truly rare event. The problem with the Initiating step is that there are two ways to go about it. The first way is meditating and finding your inner magical core and saturating yourself in it, allowing the pathways to form between your inner self and your outer self. The other way, the more popular way, is to use a potion to forge the bridges instantly. The problem is that the potion is not always a hundred percent success, it is the reason for which many witches and wizards are incapable of forming the bridges required to their inner self.

"The best bet for you Harry is to concentrate on your magical core first. And once you are sure that you have spent relatively enough time in there, we can try the potion. But I don't think you will be at a stage where you can take the potion right now in the summer, if you keep up your practice then perhaps around Christmas time you should be able to do so." Sirius said as he explained the whole process to Harry and me.

I frowned at the bridges portion of the explanation. My mind was already working through the possible connotations that could be attached to that portion of the theory. Harry and Sirius talked a bit more about what the possible animal could be for Harry before the older man left after much ribbing.

I looked at Harry as he sat down on the bed and stared at the far wall. "What are you thinking about Harry?"

Harry just sighed before looking at me. "It's a lot to take in you know. Since you came into my life, it has been one huge twister. I used magic to such an extent that I didn't even know that my limits existed. Not only did I hit the limit of my magical power this summer but I exceeded it on a daily basis, making me a stronger wizard. I can't thank you enough for all that you have done for me Ralph. You are a true friend."

I just smiled at him. "No worries kid. I almost feel like I am taking care of my little brother when I look at you. Although the little snot was a tad bit more annoying than you are, mind you just a tad so don't go getting too complacent there. Anyways, enough of this mushy talk, I was never able to quite digest it without getting diabetes. Did you hear what Sirius said?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that we won't find out my animal form till December because I wouldn't be ready to take the potion till then."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "No you dolt. The fact that Sirius said that you have to form the bridges between your magical core and your inner self. This literally means that you are reaching out with your magic and forming a bond between your inner self, not only that but you are pushing magic through those bridges to form that bond. Magic that would be absorbed by your inner self and most probably be converted into your animagus form."

Harry frowned at that. "How do you know that Ralph, that is just a guess nothing else at best. There is no proof that what you said is correct."

Ralph nodded at that. "But think about it. Animagus forms are considered a branch of Transfiguration magic. A branch that is solely composed of using magic to convert one object into another. What if the dimensions of what the object should turn into is decided by the amount of magic your inner self is able to gain. What if the process of turning into animagus is literally translated to storing up a large amount of magical power separate from your core so that you can use that power to convert your inner self into an animal."

Harry just stared at me like I am an idiot. "Don't you think you are reaching a bit too far Ralph?"

I was faraway in my own thoughts though. "Yeah I probably am I reckon. But that doesn't mean that the basis of the theory is wrong. The only way we can know is if we test it."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "And how are we going to test it?"

I grinned at that. "Well Harry, with all the wandless spells you have been casting, you are bound to find your magical core very quickly. Plus I just remembered a concentration technique that I had read about but forgot to teach to you. This technique would help you in gaining control of your thoughts and teaching you Occlumency while at the same time it will help you delve deep inside yourself."

Harry nodded as he stretched. "Well we have our usual hour of mediation for the night. Why not try your technique this time around instead." Harry sat down on the bed with his legs folded underneath him and his spine straight.

His hands were on his knees with the palms facing away from the knee. I breathed in deeply and started to talk in a low voice as Harry closed his voice. "Imagine a small flame in your mind. Anything that comes close to the flame, burns away. Your fear, burns away. Your happiness burns away. Your memories burn away. The only thing that is consistent and constant is the flame in your mind. Everything around the flame is encapsulated in a void that consists of nothing and yet at the same time it will make you feel more alive and one with yourself than ever. Focus on the flame Harry and feed everything that is distracting to it."

Harry did as he was commanded and for the next hour, progress occurred in his occlumency like never before. Harry could feel the magic being drawn from his core and placed into his mind to from the barriers that he had read about. But he didn't pay any attention to that, he only paid attention to the flame and the void. He had never felt so complete before in his life.

Over the next few days they kept up the practice as often as they could. I had Harry practice the flame and void technique as often as he could, it soon got to the point that Harry was spending parts of the day behind the flame and the void at all times. Others had remarked on this, but I urged Harry to not react. As when he was using the flame and the void, his face was clear of any and all emotions, something that looked eerily creepy, but it was also something that was becoming the norm for Harry's face.

Slowly I taught Harry to ignore any and all stimuli from the outside world that would unbalance him. I would insult him, his friends, his family, and himself. And yet over a week's time I taught Harry to harness his anger and push it in the flame. It also helped that his rapidly increasing Occlumency barriers were blocking out the random bouts of anger that Harry was prone to react to due to Voldemort. Over all, he was looking like a very balanced individual overall.

Time flew by as Harry found his magical core and started to form the bridges on my insistence. The books that Sirius had provided were very helpful in that. Before we knew it, the time of the hearing was upon us.

Ministry of Magic would be rather underwhelmed by the response that we were going to set forth.

X-X-X-X

And that's another chapter done folks. Thanks for the positive comments that I found on the story. Please try and review if possible, it makes an author's day to read them.

Special thanks to Publicola, I particularly enjoyed reading your Magical Me story. It is amazing what you have done with Lockhart and his character, simply brilliant. It was an honour to have you write something good about my story, thank you very much.

Cheers everyone!


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